On 7/07/2011 3:12 PM, X4 User wrote:
I am bumping this thread because I too have the same question ... can I put
modern 3TB disks (hitachi deskstars) into an old x4500 ?
If not, would the x4540 accept them ?
I'd expect they would *work* but whether it would be a good idea or not
could be debated and could indeed be a variable answer.
My recollection of those boxes is that they had to use enterprise SATA
disks in them (as opposed to consumer SATA) to deal with the internal
vibration that resulted from having so many disks so densely packed. I
recall being involved in a performance issue or two that was related to
certain disks in the box going slow as a result of said vibrations.
For an amusing example of how vibrations can impact disks, google
Brendan Gregg shouting in the datacentre.
So - assuming the disks actually work (and I don't recall there being
any specific limitations) on the controllers, and you keep an eye on the
disk response times (so you are aware of any disks not performing
optimally), you should be OK.
Of course - not in a production sense - as doing that without support
would just be asking for trouble. ;)
Oh - and as a final point - if you are planning to run Solaris on this
box, make sure they are not the 4KB sector disks, as at least in my
experience, their performance with ZFS is profoundly bad. Particularly
with all the metadata update stuff...
4KB sectors almost seem to me to be a stunt be HDD manufacturers to be
able to claim more available space for the same device, and to be lazy
in the CRC generation/checking arena. And to profoundly impact the time
it takes to read or update anything less than 4K. But - then again,
maybe I'm missing something.
Cheers!
Nathan.
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